In addition to skimming through photos of your crush on Facebook, you soon might able to check your homework through the Web site if Binghamton University officials decide to use the new Blackboard tool.

Recently, Blackboard Sync, the inventors of Blackboard, came to BU to promote newly added features for the online tool. The company has now invented a way to link the academic site to Facebook. The link can be added through a Facebook application just like other applications, such as Graffiti or Bumper Stickers.

“It will notify you on an hourly basis if there are new changes, such as announcements posted in the last seven days, notifications about new content items, new forum posts, new grades, the course roster and the course map,” explained Carol Bell, a member of the technology services on campus.

None of the actual course content is pulled out of the Blackboard system, rather Facebook members will just receive notifications about each updated piece of information, complete with a direct link to the item in their Blackboard courses.

The student will still need to log into Blackboard to see certain grades, assignments and other course materials.

Although this feature for Facebook could have potential benefits for the BU students, the technology staff is wary of immediately adding it, Bell said. For example, before changing the BUSI Web site to BU Brain, there was much research done to ensure that it was secure for students and that they would be guaranteed privacy for all of their personal information, Bell said.

Likewise, Bell commented that the technology staff wants to guarantee that students will not have any private information exposed. They also would like to see if the application will put a large load on the Blackboard server, which would mean slower service on the site. It is very important that if this application is added, Blackboard will still run as speedily as before, she added.

Faculty master of Hinman College and professor Al Vos, who was at the presentation, said the merging of the social and academic tools may not be as successful as intended.

“I am skeptical about this new application because I think that students view Facebook as a vehicle for social networking, while Blackboard is used for a tool in academic contexts,” he said. “For students, there is very little connection between the two sources.”

Still, Vos said the connection could be beneficial, despite apparent differences between online social networking and academics.

“I would love to be proved wrong though,” Vos said, “and to find out that a connection between Blackboard and Facebook would promote strong, satisfying relationships between the social and the academic.”